DENVER – The University of Denver women's soccer team captured its third clean sheet of the season with a 2-0 win over North Dakota State to begin Summit League play on Friday.
 
Senior Hannah Gallegos and sophomore Delaney McGowan scored less than two minutes apart midway through the first half, and redshirt senior Nerea Arrazola secured the clean sheet with two second-half saves.
 
COACH'S NOTES:
From head coach Jeff Hooker: "We struggled for the first 15 minutes finding and keeping the ball and then once we settled down a little bit, we matched their work rate and kind of found the spaces to play in. Getting those two goals in two totally different ways then puts you in a different mindset for halftime where you just have to protect your home field, which I thought we did a pretty good job of. We didn't really need to score. Possessing the ball and not having to chase in the second half was the goal, and I thought we accomplished that.
 
"I thought the crowd was really electric and behind us. They were super supportive and yelling and screaming and encouraging, and we hope they all come back."
 
SIGNIFICANT STATS:

• Gallegos and McGowan both scored their first goals of the season and their second career goals.
• Three DU defenders notched their first points of the season: Gallegos with two and one a piece for junior Jordan Crockett and sophomore Riley Baker.
• Arrazola now owns 23 career shutouts, moving her within two of fourth place in DU history.
• Denver moves to 7-2-1 in Summit League openers including three consecutive 2-0 shutouts.
• Denver's attendance of 1,837 is a single-match record for either the DU men's or women's soccer program. It is behind only the men's and women's doubleheader on September 21, 2019 (2,715).

FIRST HALF:
17' | McGowan had the first shot of the night for either team but pushed it wide left.
 
31' | Crockett took the match's first corner kick, placing it right in the center of the box where Gallegos headed on target, where it bounced off the post and an NDSU player to put Denver up 1-0.
 
33' | Baker passed the ball to the right side of the box and connected with McGowan, who curved the ball back toward net after it was heading out of play. The ball glanced off NDSU keeper Abby Wilkinson's hands and into the back of the net.
 
45' | In the final seconds of the half, NDSU took its first corner of the night, but Denver's defenders blocked it out of play.
 
SECOND HALF:
52' | Arrazola made a diving save, pushing the ball up over the net off a shot from NDSU's Olivia Watson. On the subsequent corner kick, DU's defenders and Arrazola combined to keep the bouncing ball out of the net.
 
72' | Junior Vanessa Murray took a shot from just outside the penalty area, but NDSU's Wilkinson saved it with her fingertips.
 
82' | Sales had her second scoring chance of the second half but again had it tackled away on the approach by an NDSU defender.
 
87' | Arrazola made one more diving save to secure the shutout.
 
WHAT'S NEXT:
DU (4-4-2, 1-0-0) continues Summit League play when it hosts North Dakota on Sunday, September 25, at 12 p.m. MT.
 
TICKETS:
Single-game tickets for the 2022 University of Denver women's soccer season are now on sale and can be purchased online, by calling 303-871-4625 or by visiting the Ritchie Center Box Office.

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This article created using technology provided by Data Skrive.